novelraw Chapter 176: Krafte War - City Under Fire (7)
Chapter 176: Krafte War - City Under Fire (7)
Episode 176. The Krafte War - City of Gunfire (7)
The Krafte Army began an all-out attack as soon as morning broke.
“It is time.”
“Yes! All artillery, commence bombardment!”
At the Great King's command, the successive sound of cannon fire covered the battlefield like the grand resonance of brass instruments.
“Relay the order to advance to the vanguard regiments!”
“All units, begin the advance!”
After days of prolonged urban warfare in a city filled with obstacles and all sorts of debris, the splendid uniforms of the Line Infantry were worn and filthy.
The Krafte Army's characteristic black color made the Great King think of them as string instruments that had been used enough by a performer to acquire an antique flavor.
The heavy echo of the soldiers’ footsteps, moving in perfect order, is like the melody of a contrabass.The volley of musket fire, shot in unison, is the performance of a cello.
The soldiers’ struggle, desperately ramming their gun barrels to finish reloading before the enemy fires, is like that of a viola, which can only be appreciated by listening with care.
And—
The sound of soldiers filling the battlefield.
“For Krafte!”
“Long live His Majesty the Great King!”
Loyalty to the Motherland and the courage to seek glory.
“Kuhak!”
“Armin! Damn them all!”
“Fire! Kill them all!”
The seething enmity, burning with hatred and vengeance.
That which is ultimately revealed, despite so much training and discipline.
“Gack, my leg hurts, my leg… I d-don’t want to die.”
Even fear and weakness.
All of it is as beautiful, delicate, and colorful as a concerto of piano and violin, the stars of an orchestra.
Where else could one hear such a harmonious melody?
Where else could one produce such dissonance?
The battlefield.
This place is heaven.
This place is hell.
This is the very scene of ruin that captures the essence of the Human.
This is everything that is Human.
The Great King, after appreciating the catastrophe he had wrought, turned to face the generals who were looking at him.
The enemy is the Revolutionary Army, a worthy opponent.
No. This battlefield is already lost, this battle is lost.
The remaining cards are limited, and by anyone’s estimation, the Krafte Army is at a disadvantage.
Nevertheless, the Great King unflinchingly raised his baton, his cane.
“Well then, let us begin.”
Even if the content of the performance differs from what they expected.
Having ascended such a beautiful and sublime stage, simply turning one’s back would be a discourtesy to the audience.
“I, too, shall give my all. So you are to wring out every last ounce of your capabilities.”
If you do, the melody played on this battlefield will be eternally remembered for its unparalleled beauty and ugliness in this world.
“We obey the command of His Majesty the Great King!”
*
“Keoheok!”
“Martin!”
“Ugh, ughhhh-!”
They had already fought for several days.
Although they had been rotated to rest in between, the faces of the soldiers, isolated by the enemy and continuing their ceaseless engagement in the city streets, were filled with fatigue.
Even the Northern Army Commander, Louis Desaix, had drawn his sword and come to the western frontline to command while observing the war situation with his own eyes.
“Your Excellency, the Commander! A report from General Nicolas Nere! The northern defense line is being pushed back!”
“Do these bastards ever get tired?”
Louis Desaix let out a hollow laugh.
The battle hadn’t ended, so they couldn’t even tally it yet, but it had been a long time since the number of casualties for the Revolutionary Army alone had surpassed five digits.
Given it was a large-scale urban battle in an extremely fortified area, even the renowned Krafte Army would have suffered similar losses.
Despite that, they had been pushed back and back, and it was already the fourth defense line.
The center of the city, where Marquis Lafayette’s command, the final reserve unit, and the infirmary were located, was the fifth and final defense line, so there was nowhere left to retreat.
The problem with Nicolas Nere was that he was too valiant; he wasn’t one to exaggerate the situation in his reports.
“Hah, there’s no reserve unit left. Tell General Nicolas Nere to hold the defense line as long as possible. To His Excellency the Marquis—”
Desaix’s words were cut off by the roar of something flying in.
“Be careful, Your Excellency, the Commander!”
Louis Desaix quickly threw himself to the ground, and soon an explosion erupted not far away, covering him in dust and dirt.
“Cough, cough, hoo. Seeing as I’m alright, I must be lucky today, too.”
Louis Desaix got up, roughly brushed the dust from his clothes, and opened his mouth again.
“Messenger, get reinforcements from His Excellency the Marquis and—”
Then he saw the messenger he had just been talking to, bleeding with a body full of shrapnel, and stopped cold.
“…He went without even having time to feel pain.”
Louis Desaix let out a deep sigh and spoke to the officer who had rushed over and was urgently brushing the dirt from his clothes.
“Send a messenger to General Nere. Tell him to hold on a little longer, that I’ll get reinforcements from Marquis Lafayette and send them. As for Marquis Lafayette… I’ll write to him myself.”
“Understood, Your Excellency, the Commander!”
“If we hold on, it’ll work out somehow, if we hold on.”
That’s what Marquis Lafayette had said.
Louis Desaix thought so too.
Their amount of ammunition is certainly more limited than ours.
Since they’re the ones on the offensive, crossing obstacles, it’s natural for them to tire out much faster.
So, if we just hold on, we can win somehow.
The moment he thought that, the gunshot sounds that had been sporadically erupting stopped as if by a lie.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“Your Excellency, the Commander, they’ve stopped their offensive! Are they trying to rest?”
No, that can’t be. They’ve already suffered serious losses.
If they were going to retreat after probing this much, they should have retreated long ago.
Could it be that they’re running out of ammunition?
No, that doesn’t make sense either. If they were short on ammunition, wouldn’t we have noticed during the night?
If that’s the case, they shouldn’t have launched an offensive today in the first place—
At that moment.
“For Krafte!”
“Glory to His Majesty the Great King!”
The Krafte soldiers who had been hiding behind cover sprang out, shouting in unison.
A chill ran down Louis Desaix’s spine at the sight of the bayonets glittering at the end of all their guns, scattering an eerie light.
“H-huh!”
“Crazy bastards!”
They’re initiating melee combat in urban warfare just because they ran out of ammunition?
Are they trying to die together!
“A-all hands! Prepare for melee combat!”
Starting with that scream-like shout, screams and yells covered the battlefield.
*
“Iyaaaaah-!”
“Keok, keok….”
He kicks down an oncoming enemy and drives his bayonet into him.
“Ugh, ughhh-!”
A soldier, startled by a sudden shout from his side, tried to hastily pull out his bayonet, but having thrust it in too hard, it wouldn’t come out, and he was stabbed by a bayonet and fell.
“Aaaargh!”
“Die, you son of a bitch! Die!”
The so-called gentlemanly battlefield, which had dulled the sense of slaughter by bestowing death upon the enemy with the light pull of a trigger, starkly revealed the violence it still contained the moment melee combat began.
“Ah, no, no! Help me! Hel—… guk, ghhhrk…!”
“Die, die, die, just die-!”
A soldier desperately trying to block a bayonet, and the soldier who pins him down and finally kills him.
Ironically, the Krafte Army, with its seemingly flawless discipline, only began to show its humanity after entering melee combat and starting to pour out enmity and hatred at each other.
And that, rather, was even more terrifying.
“Huk, heok….”
Louis d'Aquitaine was gasping for breath in the middle of that chaos and pandemonium.
“For Krafte!”
“Ugh-!”
Louis unwittingly poured his magical power into the bloodshot eyes of the Krafte soldier rushing at him, thrusting his bayonet.
Soon, lightning struck from the sky, and the soldier rushing at him flinched, convulsed, and then collapsed.
Leaving behind a smell like burning meat.
“Ugh….”
Louis struggled to come to his senses.
There was no Leon Durand to protect him.
…What was he doing right now?
Did he run away, taking advantage of this chaos?
“Die!”
“Ah-“
Bang!
The moment Louis unwittingly turned his head, a gunshot sound rang out, and the Krafte soldier rushing at him collapsed, spewing blood from his head.
“What’s a magician doing here, Lieutenant Aquitaine!”
“M-Major Davie.”
“Follow me! There’s nothing more a magician can do in melee combat!”
“Iyaah- keok!”
Giselle Davi shouted while reloading her pistol, but when another Krafte soldier charged, she threw the pistol straight at his face and drew her sword.
“Y-yes, I understand!”
Louis started to run after Giselle Davi.
Screams and yells erupted from all sides, and even though the Revolutionary Army surely had more soldiers, he had the illusion that the Krafte Army’s forces were greater.
“W-we’re being pushed back, Major Davie!”
“I know that just by looking!”
The Revolutionary Army’s morale may be high, but in terms of discipline and training, they can’t match the Krafte Army.
It might be different in a firefight with obstacles, but in close-range melee combat, it was natural that the regular soldiers of the Revolutionary Army couldn’t stand up to them.
“Is it okay for just us to retreat from the line? What’s the countermeasure?”
“That is—”
Giselle was about to answer when she parried the bayonet of a Krafte soldier who popped out from the side, then kicked him over.
Giselle grabbed the hand of the hesitating Louis.
“What are you spacing out for, run!”
“Y-yes, I understand!”
How long had they run?
Before long, the noise of the melee combat faded, and they soon arrived at the command post.
The ones who greeted the gasping Giselle and Louis was the roar of Damien De Millbeau.
“You’re late, Davie!”
“Huk, heok, my apologies, His Excellency the Count. Heok, if Your Excellency had come for us, it would have been faster, heok!”
“Ahem, if I leave my post, who will command! Ah, that’s not it. Hey, Lieutenant Aquitaine!”
“Y-yes!”
“It’s your turn. You remember what you heard before the operation began, right?”
“Yes? Ah, yes!”
Louis snapped to his senses.
He was so distracted by the matter of Leon Durand that he almost forgot, but he definitely had a role.
“Hmm, is this young master our guide? He doesn’t look very reliable.”
Louis was startled and flustered upon seeing the one-eyed Orc with a massive build who had suddenly approached him.
“Uh, uhhh….”
Fortunately, someone appeared to save the flustered Louis.
“He’s the young master of the Aquitaine family, Karok.”
At Shandra’s words, who chimed in with a grin, Karok’s face became one of sudden realization, and he soon bowed his head deeply.
“Ah, the sweet heart of the King’s brother. My apologies. I am Karok.”
As Louis felt a little relieved by the Orc’s surprisingly polite words, Karok’s single eye gleamed as he asked.
“So then. Do you need time to prepare, magician?”
Louis swallowed dryly.
For the first time in this battle, there was a mission that he was asked to do, one that only he could.
A task more important than anything, that only he could perform.
He erased Leon Durand and Gilles de Lionel from his mind and answered resolutely.
“Let’s go right now.”
Karok answered with a grin.
“Hmm, you have the eyes of a warrior. I’ll trust you, so lead our brothers.”
*
Urban warfare.
Due to its nature, advance routes are inevitably limited by buildings and obstacles, and a tug-of-war is bound to happen.
Given the time it takes to reload a musket, it is difficult to avoid melee combat if the enemy decides to charge, and in such an environment, the outcome is decided by pure strength and elite level.
Because it is impossible to employ variables like a flank attack.
However, when facing that Great King, one must break common sense to achieve victory.
“They’ve come.”
I looked at the army of the Iberian Brotherhood led by Karok and Shandra, and at Louis.
“Are you ready, Lieutenant Aquitaine?”
“Yes, Marquis-nim.”
“Good, let’s begin.”
Louis took a deep breath and began to draw a magic circle on the ground.
While I waited patiently, Louis completed the magic circle and infused it with mana, causing it to glow blue.
Watching this reminded me of the Storm Witch, who used to cast grand magic by drawing circles in mid-air….
Of course, Louis cannot cause such a cataclysm.
But, there are still miracles possible because he is a magician.
“Good, all artillery, prepare to fire.”
“Yes, all artillery, prepare to fire!”
We had gathered the direct-fire cannons that were unusable in the continuous urban engagement, except for a few we had fired with grapeshot and abandoned in the initial battle.
They loaded in unison and—
—aimed at a space filled with mansions and debris, which was not originally a path.
They look like intact houses on the outside, but they’re actually ones we’d already half-destroyed.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
The sound of cannon fire that shook the earth erupted, and the flimsy debris and half-destroyed houses began to collapse under the volley.
“Lieutenant Aquitaine.”
And at that moment, as a fierce wind originating from Louis’s magic circle raged—the piles of rubble that should have settled and become an impassable path for the army were all swept up by the wind and blown away.
“…I heard it was possible in theory, but this is fascinating.”
In the midst of the bombardment and the fierce gale, a path that should not have existed was created in an instant.
“Well then, I’m counting on you.”
Hearing my words, Karok nodded, then took a deep breath and shouted.
“…Brothers of the King!”
If we had deployed them during the push and pull, these melee specialists would have only been slaughtered before Krafte’s overwhelming firepower.
“Al-ardho-”
“Akbar!!”
The Orcs, shouting in unison, began to charge furiously.
In terms of elite level and training, the Krafte Army overwhelms the Revolutionary Army in melee combat.
But, that’s just a story between humans.
Unless they were knights, a human cannot match an Orc in individual strength.
They pushed us back by waging melee combat, digging deep.
Now, what kind of expression will the Krafte Army make when their fully extended flank is struck by the warrior race of Orcs, from an advance route whose existence they couldn’t even have imagined?